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Gullible's Travels: The Adventures of a Bad Taste Tourist

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I had never heard of Cash Peters before having read a rave review of "Gullible's Travels: The Adventures of a Bad Taste Tourist," but after having bought it, read it, read funny bits aloud to anyone nearby who would listen, and having read it yet a second time, I now count myself among his most ardent fans.

Peters' book is all about his last fling as a "bad taste tourist" being paid (not enough, he assures us) to visit tourist oddities all over the world. Among these are the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast; museums devoted variously to dirt, barbed wire, and feet; a hotel which makes a tremendous show of its resident ducks getting into and out of water; a tour of Parisian sewers; a funeral home miniature golf course; and, of course, Graceland. Peters is unfailingly sarcastic, which makes for terrific reading since his hosts are generally unfailingly sincere and enthusiastic about their chosen oddity.

One of the chapters is entitled "The Old Woman with an Armchair Glued to Her Ass." The subtitles on this chapter alone include: "Mr. Moussef asks for a fork - Joseph, Mary, and the teddy-bear Jesus - a touch of unpleasantness in a Boston library - a sticky breakfast confrontation." So you can imagine what the rest of the text is like . . . well, heck, here are just a very few highlights:

"In 1773, the British Parliament passed a wicked piece of legislation called The Tea Act, imposing a tax on all tea imported into the Colonies. The locals were in an uproar. 'Ye infernal bounders! Forsooth, 'tis intolerable what ye do'; or however they spoke back then."

"Boston Common is the oldest park in America. In fact, I think it may even date as far back as Historical Times."

"Nobody in Salem [Massachusetts] is able to mention the witch trials, not even in passing, without also telling you the date of them--1692. It's fun to begin with, and then you wish they'd stop."

On slogans for cities: "Salem's is 'The Bewitching Seaport,' which isn't bad. There's also Minneapolis: 'The Coolest Place on Earth' (though, having been there, I realize that this is more of a stern warning than a slogan); Albuquerque: 'It's a Trip!' and of course Boston's slogan: 'How DARE you Come Here!' "

A sample conversation with a drama student dressed in historically accurate clothes:

ME: Excuse me, which way to the bathroom?
STUDENT: Insolent coxswain! Begone, knave, lest I begroddle thy swank with my jerkin.

The footnotes alone are a scream, so you can imagine what the actual text is like. HIGHLY recommended for anyone who loves to travel and enjoys a good (read: bad) travel story.

Well-written, erudite travel books, especially with outrageous humor, are almost impossible to find. This one is a doozie! Living in the hinterlands, I've never heard Mr. Peters on the radio, so I can only hope that this book is just the first of many more to come. I'm a great fan of Bill Bryson, and I'm happy to report that Cash Peters is every bit as good and in some respects better. Mr. Peters may be gullible, but his insights are rapier sharp. This is a book to confirm your sanity in a world that often seems dreadfully askew. Great writer, great book. More please.

...but since I'm from New York, I can't say that.

I will say that I laughed so hard and so often that my overweight dog got off the bed and left the room. I telephoned a friend in Worcester, MASS and read a small passage about the Museum of Sanitary Plumbing. Her response was the same as the next line in the book. When I read the address from the next line in the book, her response was again, verbatim from the book, including exclamation points. (This will make sense AFTER you read the story.)

Buy this book, but do NOT have food or beverage in your mouth while reading: you have been warned!

In usual Cash Peters style, this book is just what the title of this review says it is: Manic, Zany and TONS of Fun! Cash documents and comments on his journeys and experiences as a travel writer. Hilarious comments and insights by Cash. If you like him on the Travel Channel, you'll LOVE this book. A great laugh and a must read!

This book is a ripping smorgasbord of American popular culture and easily the best cross country road trip I've ever taken. Peters got me laughing immediately in the first few pages and kept me laughing all the way through. In fact, a number of passages elicited guffaws and loud chortles! With a keen eye, wit, and verve, this guy serves up an array of cultural phenomena, places, and people -- from the sensational to the curious, the puzzling to the inspiring, the offbeat to the offputting (!). His impressions buoy, sparkle, and delight.

This book is a gem. Think Dave Barry and Bill Bryson and you will just have started on the delights and laughs in this book. If you love to travel, even better!! This book was laugh-out-loud funny and I live in the same state with the Barbed Wire Museum. Cash finds a way to have fun with the sights he sees, yet is mostly self-deprecating, so he isn't making fun of the people he meets - there isn't anything cruel about his humor. I can recommend this without hesitation to travel buffs and those looking for a great laugh alike.

Before I read this book I had no desire to visit the world's largest ball of twine or the Museum of Dirt. I still don't but I am glad that Cash Peters did. This guy is hilarious. This is much more than a travel book, it's a rather touching voyage of discovery in the company of a very entertaining writer. Cash Peters is a witty and cynical commentator who can turn a great one liner, but he's also insightful and rather lovable. He just can't bring himself to hate the wacko places he visits. Listening in to his bemused musings on the importance of Bad Art I found myself convinced that if I had to visit the Precious Moments Theme Park, this is the man I would want to be with. A very, very funny and engaging book. Highly recommended.

In a nutshell: I don't have to buy books because I live in Salt Lake City, which has, arguably, the greatest public library in the country if not the world. So I got "Gullible's Travels" (I think I saw an ad in The New Yorker) and, it's a good thing I have a great library because I can't afford to buy books anyway, but guess what, I'm going to buy this one. Several copies of this one, for gifts. Not even Xmas gifts, just gifts for people who need a good laugh and appreciate real wit. It's that good. I hope a lot of people buy "Gullible's" and I hope Cash Peters laughs all the way to the bank.

After hearing Cash Peters' hysterically funny radio bits on Marketplace and Savvy Traveler for some years, I thought I knew what to expect from his book: more of the same. Right. And wrong.

Hearing the essays in small doses is a lot different than reading a whole book of essays at once. What seems like witty sarcasm in a two-minute on-air reading, starts to seem like bitchiness after several chapters. Also, Peters' voice reminds me of British comedian Alexei Sayles (short, bald, mad), so when I saw Peters' photo on the book, I had to drastically revise my mental image. What had seemed funny coming from a short, bald, mad man, didn't seem as funny from a slim, handsome man.

Of course, I don't blame Peters for these complaints, and my only suggestion to the reader of Gullible's Travels (and I do recommend that you read it, especially the chapter on the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast) is to read it a chapter at a time, rather than all at once. And if it comes out in an audio version, choose that over the printed edition.

I had never heard of Cash Peters before. I was browsing Amazon looking for books that I can't get in the UK and one of them was Gullible's Travels. It sounded like my type of thing so I thought why not? I'm so glad I did. Its one of those books that is so enjoyable I don't want to get to the end.

Bill Bryson is my favourite author and the only one who can make me laugh out loud and I would rate Cash Peters to be as funny and readable as Bill. So, I have a few pages to go but I know this will be a book I will keep re-reading - it is highly entertaining.